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Electric Stirrer to Maintain Mash Temps

Post #1 made 14 years ago
by kzimmer0817
I'm in the process of planning my BIAB build - the E-Kettle and the Controller. I have 2 more extract + specialty grain kits to brew before I move to AG - I know, I've been saying that for 2 months, now, but my schedule will be more "open" after January.

I want to be able to maintain mash temps. Perhaps the simplest is to wrap a quilt around the e-kettle. I have planned on adding a pump and recirculate liquid from under the false-bottom near the element back to the top. I have had second thoughts about that after reading about the experience of others.

I searched "stirrer" and only found a single posting about using an electric stirrer in a thread about "speeding up wort chilling". Pistol Patch posted the following link to a youtube video in which the brewer uses a modified ice cream motor and dasher to mix the mash:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSNFkpcn1Lw

Of course, this brewer modified the ice cream churn since, with these churns, the dasher is stationary and it is the vessel that turns.

I cannot imagine that any kind of agitator/mixer would be any simpler than using a pump. I'm wondering if some king of slowly moving propeller-type mixer would work to cause a circulating effect in the mash.

I'm thinking that any kind of impeller/propeller might create enough current to draw the bag into the propeller.

I'd like to hear the experience of the group regarding various ways to maintain mash temps using E-BIAB - frequent stirring, coordinating manual stirring with cycling of the element, wort circulating, automatic stirrer.

Thanks,
Keith
Last edited by kzimmer0817 on 16 Dec 2011, 23:09, edited 4 times in total.

Post #2 made 14 years ago
by joshua
Good Day Keith, I tryed a stirer, and have used a pump. To use the stirer, I had to make a bag frame to keep the bag open and keep the stirer from grabbing the bag....Too complicated. The RIMS system type pump worked very nice...A Real "Beach" to clean, and may have trashed 2 batches(infections).
I am now trying an idea with a tab sewn in the bottom center of the bag, with a rope/string tied to it and routed thru the lid of the kettle. I maunualy pull the rope to pull the bag up from the bottom, and then release it to drop the bag back done. So Far the lid and insultion keep the temperature from dropping only 2C over 75 minute mash, and the mash finishes at the Gravity that is calculated.
I have not finished out the first batch to drink, so I don't know the results,yet.

Note: original Idea came from "SPOG" http://www.biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php ... t=25#p9595
Thanks!
Last edited by joshua on 20 Dec 2011, 19:41, edited 1 time in total.
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Post #3 made 14 years ago
by kzimmer0817
joshua wrote:Good Day Keith, <snip>
I am now trying an idea with a tab sewn in the bottom center of the bag, with a rope/string tied to it and routed thru the lid of the kettle. I maunualy pull the rope to pull the bag up from the bottom, and then release it to drop the bag back done. <snip.
Joshua,

Thanks for responding. What you described suddenly brings to mind another contraption to complicate matters: you could rig up a little motorized crankshaft or camshaft to repeatedly lift and lower the bottom of the bag a couple inches thereby creating some kind of current - probably like some of the laundromat washing machines that had the dasher that bounced up and down.

With the motorized stirrer in a BIAB vessel, I had visions of our water ski rope getting tangled in the boat's propeller.

Thinking thru, for those of us who hope to brew indoors with E-BIAB as opposed to brewing outdoors in northern Winter weather, it should be easy to rig up an easy-to-apply-and-easy-to-remove insulation blanket to put around the E-Kettle during mash and to remove when ready to boil.

Thanks,
Keith
Last edited by kzimmer0817 on 17 Dec 2011, 03:21, edited 4 times in total.

Post #5 made 14 years ago
by joshua
good Day Thughes, Been there, done that...I have 2" of Reflectix insulation around the kettle, and 2" in pink foam on the lid, That is why I needed a way to stir from the outside.
I have a few bages with different cloth spacing, and I am checking the time It takes to Drain the bag going UP, and refilling the bag going DOWN. So far, coarse bags need 10 second cycle, and a Very Fine bag needs 25 second cycles. So many Bags, So little Time.
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Post #6 made 14 years ago
by hashie
joshua wrote: For those of you who drink Tea, Yes, I am Teabagging
I drink tea, but make it in a pot with tea leaves :)

I wonder if we could make an oversize coffee plunger for BIAB?
Last edited by hashie on 17 Dec 2011, 13:07, edited 4 times in total.
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Post #8 made 14 years ago
by PistolPatch
kzimmer0817 wrote:...I have planned on adding a pump and recirculate liquid from under the false-bottom near the element back to the top. I have had second thoughts about that after reading about the experience of others.
Hi there Keith,

I wouldn't add any electrics to your kettle until you do quite a few brews. Stirring the mash and applying a bit of heat a few times during the mash is very easy, especially in your climate. And there are plenty of guys who don't even stir the mash - they set and forget. So, any money and time you spend on electrics could prove to be totally unnecessary.

Everyone's equipment and climates work together differently. The best way to get to know this is to check your mash temperature several times over several brews. FOrgetting electrics for now means you'll also be able to do your first brew quicker :thumbs:.

:peace:
PP
Last edited by PistolPatch on 17 Dec 2011, 15:46, edited 4 times in total.
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Post #9 made 14 years ago
by stux
coordinating manual stirring with cycling of the element
Do this for your first batch at least :)

Build your e-kettle... how many watts are you going for and what boiling volume?

perhaps put a drain port in

but do at least one batch with the manual way before you try pumps and other things ;)

After that, go for your life ;)
Last edited by stux on 19 Dec 2011, 13:57, edited 4 times in total.
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